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I'm telling!

Saturday, September 29, 2012

I don't know about you, but if I hear one more kid whine, "I'm telling!" I think I may pull my hair out. My class is full of tattlers reporters. I searched high and low and finally found the book of my dreams, A Bad Case of Tattle Tongue. It's a story of a young boy who reports everything he sees and drives everyone around him crazy. No one wants to play with him or sit with him. The Tattle Prince comes to visit him while he is sleeping and teaches him the difference between tattling and informing an adult of something important. The Tattle Prince has 4 rules:
1. Be a Danger Ranger- It's not tattling if someone could get hurt.
2. Be a Problem Solver- solve your own problems.
3. Now or Later? Some problems can be solved later, some must be solved now.
My favorite rule
4. MYOB- Mind Your Own Business

Here's the chart we made to help us remember the tattle rules so we don't come down with tattle tongue. So far, it's helped my friends out tremendously. We have had to refer to our chart, but our tattles are definitely slowing down. How do you prevent tattling?

8 comments

Thanks! No one had it at my school and S heard me talking about it and said her teacher had it and was kind enough to let me borrow it. It is on my "to buy" list. It'll be nice to have on hand if we need to hear it again. :)

This book is on my Amazon wishlist right now! I ended up buying a bunch of other social skills books first. This one will be added to my collection soon.

I tend to solve tattling by asking "do you think I can see that?" as in "don't tell me what I already know." Or my very unconventional but always works do to the shock factor... "you're not barfing, broken, or bleeding, I'm sure you'll be okay." My more traditional response usually involves "I only want you to think about the good things the other kids do."

I bought it and read it to my class this year. It helped quite a bit. I also thought about making a Tattle Tongue shaker (a salt/pepper shaker with purple and gold glitter in it with a piece of cardstock to cover the holes inside). That way when someone was tattling, I could grab it and ask, "Are you being a tattle tongue?" Hoping the shaker would be a reminder to not tattle. I haven't made it yet. (On my loooonnnnggg list of things to do.)